The use of wood in fabricating caskets is well-known; and in addition, limited use has been made of certain other materials, including corrugated fiberboard.
The present invention is concerned with novel casket structure and novel manufacturing techniques for making caskets, employing corrugated fiberboard as the base material.
One of the principal objects of the invention is the provision of a technique by which a shell or base of a casket, having flared side and end walls, is fabricated from a single blank cut from a planar sheet of the corrugated fiberboard, the blank having interconnected portions corresponding to the areas of the flared side and end walls. In this way, an exceedingly simple fabrication technique is provided,, notwithstanding the flared configuration of the side and end walls.
The invention further provides a simplified technique for fabrication of a domed lid from corrugated fiberboard, the lid having a marginal frame and being constructed so that the lid may be used in a single piece covering the entire casket or in the form of a split lid in which two halves are provided, being separately mounted so that one half may be raised independently of the other, as is frequently desired in connection with viewing procedures.
The invention provides various specific manufacturing operations which facilitate the fabrication of the base or shell of the coffin as well as of the domed lid.
By virtue of these techniques, the invention provides a highly satisfactory and practicable configuration and method which can be carried out by the use of corrugated fiberboard, particularly corrugated fiberboard having a multiplicity of layers of corrugated material incorporated in the board.
The techniques of the invention not only provide for the fabrication of casket shells and lids which are of high strength, but which are also of relatively light weight. With a typical construction of the casket and lid according to the present invention, the total weight may be of the order of 50 lbs., as compared with a corresponding weight of 150 lbs. where the casket and lid are formed of wood.
Still further, the invention contemplates novel configuration of various parts of both the shell and the lid so as to facilitate the application to both components of fabric covering, commonly used and widely accepted.